1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an accounting service system designed for personal communications including mobile telephoning. More particularly, this invention is concerned with an accounting service system for rendering a credit card-based accounting service using network facilities.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, mobile communication services including a mobile telephone service have been drastically changing in terms of quality and quantity alike. The day when everybody can enjoy mobile telephony as readily as ordinary telephony has come around the corner. In Japan, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (NTT) commenced an 800 MHz-band mobile telephone service in December 1979. This was succeeded by communicative liberalization. In 1988, a new common carrier (NCC) was founded to offer mobile telephones.
With the introduction of the above principle of competition and the advent of smaller portable telephones, the number of users of mobile telephones has been increasing progressively. The number of subscribers as of the end of March 1993 is about 1,700,000. By 2000, the mobile telephone market is expected to grow to hold as many users as 10 million. The sale of mobile portable telephones has been authorized since April 1994. Mobile portable telephones are now on sale in mass retailers for home electric appliances.
On the other hand, the number of issued credit cards in Japan is 203 million as of the end of 1992. This figure means that each of the Japanese people including O-year-old infants has about two credit cards. It is no exaggeration to say that Japan has become as big a card-oriented nation as has the United States of America. With the relaxation of restrictions on credit cards, credit card companies in the fields of manufacturing and distribution industries will be able to explore business changes. In the near future, the exploration will be liberated fully. Credit cards relating to distribution and manufacturing industries will be able to be used at any shops. Under these circumstances, the rental business of portable telephones is expanding steadfastly. Users are recognizing that it is more convenient to utilize rental companies than to enter into a contract directly with communication companies.
When a portable telephone is rented, generally, the rental is paid to a rental company, while a basic communication fee and a speech fee are paid directly to a mobile communication company. Thus, a user has to pay money to a plurality of companies and take complex steps for the payment. After application for rental is completed, before a product is delivered, it takes more than 20 days to complete clerical work such as creation of an application form, investigation, issuance of a bill and confirmation of payment. It is therefore impossible to use such portable telephones at an event ground for a short period such as a half a day or a whole day. Due to the authorization of the sale of mobile terminals, a mobile terminal unit may be purchased at a mass retailer of home electric appliances. The purchased mobile terminal unit cannot however be put to use immediately because it takes some time for a mobile communication company to complete a procedure (service order) of registering the terminal unit in an exchange.
In order to overcome these drawbacks, a credit accounting service based on credit card system portable telephones has been devised and disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.62-36956. Specifically, when issued, a credit card is inserted into a reading feature implemented in a personal communication terminal unit such as a mobile telephone. The read credit card member number is transmitted to a network. Credit accounting information is then produced. For settlement, a speech fee is billed to a credit card company.
The foregoing conventional credit accounting service based on credit card system portable telephones poses problems described below. To begin with, a credit card reading feature such as a card reader must be included in a portable terminal unit. This impairs the characteristic of a portable terminal unit that it is compact and lightweight, and leads to an increase in cost. In addition, a sequence for certifying a credit card must be newly added to a speech setup sequence conformable to, for example, the RCR STD-28 (standard for second-generation cordless telephone systems complied by the Electromagnetic System Development Center) standardized for networks. This results in complex sequences executed on the side of a network. Moreover, when a call is originated from a telephone, a credit card remains inserted into the telephone. Loading and unloading a credit card becomes a nuisance, which impairs ease of operation. Whenever a rented or purchased telephone is involved, it takes some time for a mobile communication company to complete a procedure of registering the telephone in an exchange. The telephone cannot therefore be used immediately after the rental or purchase.